The Distributional Effects of Fiscal Consolidation

Download or read book The Distributional Effects of Fiscal Consolidation written by Laurence M. Ball and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2013-06-21 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper examines the distributional effects of fiscal consolidation. Using episodes of fiscal consolidation for a sample of 17 OECD countries over the period 1978–2009, we find that fiscal consolidation has typically had significant distributional effects by raising inequality, decreasing wage income shares and increasing long-term unemployment. The evidence also suggests that spending-based adjustments have had, on average, larger distributional effects than tax-based adjustments.